Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the Panchayat and Municipal elections in Odisha, the State Election Commission (SEC) has announced a special pilot survey in areas under the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to identify and rectify discrepancies in existing voter lists.
The door-to-door pilot survey will be conducted from September 3 to 11 across three Assembly constituencies under the BMC area, Bhubaneswar.
The survey will cover Ward No. 10 under Bhubaneswar-North Assembly Constituency, Ward No. 35 under Bhubaneswar Central Assembly Constituency, and Ward No. 52 under Bhubaneswar-Ekamra Assembly Constituency, according to State Election Commissioner Madhusudan Padhi.
After the pilot exercise, the SEC will conduct a statewide door-to-door survey from October 26 to November 7 to streamline and update voter lists for constituencies going to Panchayat and Municipal elections.
The survey is aimed at resolving longstanding issues such as members of the same family being assigned to different polling booths and discrepancies or ambiguity in house numbers.
At present, many polling booths in urban Assembly constituencies do not have clearly defined geographical boundaries. Consequently, voters from 10 to 12 different localities may sometimes be listed under a single booth.
In some instances, voters residing in one ward are assigned to polling stations located in another ward. Such arrangements can cause inconvenience and may discourage voters from visiting polling stations to cast their ballots.
Under the new exercise, the SEC intends to ensure that members of the same family are assigned to the same polling station, wherever feasible. Similarly, voters belonging to a particular ward but currently listed under different wards will be identified and shifted to the appropriate ward after verification.
The SEC believes that correcting such discrepancies could help address one of the factors contributing to low voter turnout in urban areas and make the electoral process more accessible for voters.
The Commission has urged the public to provide correct information and extend full cooperation to the teams comprising Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) and other officials involved in the survey.
The exercise seeks to create a transparent, accurate and systematically organised voter list across the state ahead of the Panchayat and Municipal elections, Padhi added.
